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Broken Hill Hotel celebrates heritage listing

An iconic Albany Highway landmark and Victoria Park’s oldest pub, the Broken Hill Hotel, has been celebrated through its entry in the State Register of Heritage Places.

State Heritage Office Executive Director Graeme Gammie said that the hotel, built in 1898, has stood on this significant transport and commercial thoroughfare for more than 110 years.

“Victoria Park developed as a major transport route in the early 1900s, it was a stop on the train service from Perth to Pinjarra, a coach stop from Perth to Albany, and 70 trams stopped opposite the hotel daily,” Mr Gammie said.

“The hotel helps to tell the wider story of the development of Perth and its surrounds, where people tended to settle close to the city during the West Australian gold rush which began in the 1890s.”

Albany Highway continued to be the main access route from the city to the southern suburbs up until the 1950s when Shepperton Road was widened.

The two-storey brick hotel with its eye-catching dome tower was originally designed by the first Mayor of Victoria Park, Robert Thompson McMaster. A street near the hotel is named in McMaster’s honour.

It was substantially renovated and refurbished in 2005, and today functions as a bar and restaurant.

Broken Hill Hotel Director Phil Zoiti said that both the Town of Victoria Park and the Heritage Council were very helpful and co-ordinated in their approach at assessing the development applications which enabled the renovations to proceed smoothly.

“We look forward to working with both parties in the future if further renovations were to be undertaken to ensure the place’s important heritage values continue to be maintained,” Mr Zioti said.

Read about why the Broken Hill Hotel is significant to Western Australia. Read more about the history of the Broken Hill Hotel.

Visit inHerit to view more places in the State Register of Heritage Places